chapter1 : business driven technology

CHAPTER 1: BUSINESS DRIVEN TECHNOLOGY

       Information technology (IT) – a field concerned with the use of technology in managing and  processing information

       Information technology is an important enabler of business success and innovation

      Management information system (MIS) – a general name for the business function and academic discipline covering the application of people, technologies, and procedures to solve business problems

      MIS is a business function, similar to accounting, finance, operation and human resources

      Data – are raw facts that describe the characteristics of an event. Characteristics for a sales event could include the data, item number, item description, quantity ordered, customer name, and shipping details.

      Information – data converted into a meaningful and useful context. Information from sales events could include best-selling item, worst-selling item, best customer, and worst customer.

      Business intelligence- refers to applications and technologies that are used to gather, provide access to, and analyze data and information to support decision-making efforts. Business intelligence helps companies gain a more comprehensive knowledge of the factors affecting their business such as metrics on sales, protection and internal operations  which help companies make better business decision

Functional organization – each functional area has its own systems and communicates with every other functional area and MARKETING communicate with all other areas in the organization

      PEOPLE, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY to work with, INFORMATION (in order of priority) – are inextricably linked. If one fails, they are all fail. Most important, if one fails, then chances are the business will fail.

ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION CULTURES
Information-functional culture	Employees use information as a means of exercising influence or power over others.       Eg: a manager in sales refuses to share information with marketing. This causes marketing to need the sales manager’s input each time a new sales strategy is developed
Information-sharing culture	Employees across departments trust each other to use information ( esp. problems and failures) to improve performance
Information-inquiring culture	Employees across department search for information to better understand the future and align themselves with current trends and new directions
Information-discovery culture	Employees across departments are open to new insights about crisis and radical changes and seek ways to create competitive advantages